THOMAS GRAVESEN hopes Saturday's fightback against Crystal Palace is a sign of things to come.

Two seasons ago, when Everton finished seventh in the table, they came back from behind more than any of other side in the division.

Last season, that statistic was reversed as the Blues buckled time and again by conceding goals late in games.

Which is why the Danish international has taken heart from the brave fightback from a goal down at Selhurst Park which provided David Moyes' men with their first win of the season and the first victory away from Goodison in 2004.

He said: "If I remember right, two years ago when we finished seventh we were tagged the comeback kings, not that we want to be known as that this season.

"But the character we showed then is where we want to be and as a team we are pleased we managed to play some decent football against Palace.

"Personally, I am delighted it went my way but more so with the fact we got three points in the second game of the season and an away win.

"It is always nice to score goals. I am not known for scoring a lot of goals but I got the penalty and the second one I will remember.

"We did very well as a team. If you look around Lee Carsley has done extremely well, he closed the holes and protected the back four."

After the 4-1 opening day hammering against the Gunners, it was a vitally important result for the Blues.

And combined with the revelation of an injection of roubles from Bill Kenwright's new Russian backer, the future looks a lot brighter.

"The result against Palace will give us a boost. We have a really important game on Saturday against West Brom and we have to make sure we can do the same in that one as well."